Hafiz Saeed says he is not terrorist, dares India to prove him guilty

Islamabad: Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, who is wanted in India for the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, has said he was not a terrorist, and asked for an independent probe by judges from India and Pakistan to find out whether he was guilty.

"You (India) are continuously calling me a terrorist but I am not a terrorist. If you are not satisfied, an independent judicial commission comprising senior lawyers and judges from India and Pakistan should investigate whether I am guilty," Saeed said.

"Whatever verdict the commission announces I will accept that," he added.

Saeed addressed a meeting in Lahore on Pakistan's Independence Day on Wednesday, where he rejected India's demand for Pakistan to hand him over. Participants at the rally raised slogans against India.

"You (India) look to be very eager to get me. Don't worry, I myself will visit India," Saeed said.

He said everyone in India called him a terrorist, but they should see his party's relief work for flood-hit people. "Hafiz Saeed doesn't threaten you but he is only exposing you before the world. You (India) are the country that ruined us through releasing floodwater in Pakistan every year," he said.

"You are generating electricity by using our water unlawfully. You are the people who are behind bomb blasts in Pakistan, mainly in Balochistan. You are killing innocent Kashmiris in occupied Kashmir," he alleged.

Saeed said the firing along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir was a "trick" to force Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to hand him over to India. He urged Sharif not to make India a friend.

"We are ready to make you friend, but prior to that you must avoid firing, shelling at the LoC, killing innocent freedom fighters in Kashmir, interfering in the affairs of Balochistan and releasing floodwater into Pakistan," Saeed said.